Favorite thing about farming in NYC: “Having to educate adults and my peers about the importance of food justice.

By Katherine Ripley
NYC Food Policy Centre
Apr 26, 2017

Excerpt:

Iyeshima Harris is a farm manager for Ecostation New York and an organizer for the Youth Food Justice Network. She is currently transitioning from being an urban farmer to being a political organizer advocating for food justice. Iyeshima believes that urban farming is just one component of food justice, and she wants youth in the city to understand why people fight for food. Iyeshima also wants youth in the city to experience what she experienced growing up in Jamaica, where her great grandmother had a garden, and her family did not need to go to the supermarket for anything.

On April 24, Ian Young photographed cannabis plants growing in this planter at the Vancouver City Hall community garden. When the Straight went to the garden to confirm that the plants were there, they had already been removed. Photo by Amanda Siebert.

“I want to live in a country where you see cannabis growing in somebody’s front yard, and it’s not a big deal,” he said.

By Amanda Siebert
Georgia Straight
April 25th, 2017

Excerpt:

The campaign calls on “all freedom-loving Canadians to grow a cannabis victory garden” and, in instructions posted on OverGrow Canada’s website, Larsen suggests that these seeds be planted “at City Hall, in front of the local police station, in storefront planters, and other highly visible places.”

“I hope [the plants] are from our campaign, but I know we’re not the only ones with the same idea,” Larsen told the Straight by phone this afternoon. “Regardless, if they’re my seeds or someone else’s, I hope that it keeps happening.”